The Herkie Jump in cheerleading is named after its creator, Lawrence ‘Herkie’ Herkimer. Lawrence Herkimer, known as the ‘grandfather’ of cheerleading, began his career as a cheerleader at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He went on to found the National Cheerleaders Association and invent pom pons, spirit sticks and cheer camps. The herkie is an advanced jump which takes patience, body awareness and practice to master.

Step 1

Stand straight with feet together and arms by your sides.

Step 2

Raise your arms into a High ‘V’ and rock up onto your toes.

Step 3

Keeping arms straight and tight, swing them in front of your body, while rolling back onto flat feet. Bend your knees to sink to no more than a 90 degree angle as arms cross right over left.

Step 4

Roll back to your toes, extending legs and jump off of the ground as you continue swinging arms to end in a ‘T’ motion.

Step 5

At the full height of your jump, extend one leg straight to the side and bend the other leg to a 90 degree angle with the knee pointing down. Your hips should stay squared to the front and your legs should be separated.

Step 6

Land the jump with your arms straight down, by your sides, feet together and knees slightly bent. Aim to land your toes first and roll down to flat feet to lessen the impact on your joints.

Tip

Stretch your legs using splits and over-splits to increase the flexibility and height of your legs.

Developing leg strength will make your jumps higher.

References

About the Author

An American writer living in the United Kingdom, Christy Mitchinson began writing professionally in 2000, during her career in laboratory science, pathology and research. She has authored training materials, standard operating procedures and patient/clinician information leaflets. Mitchinson is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and creative writing with The Open University.